Lactic acid bacteria are Gram positive, non-sporulating bacteria, tolerant to acid pH with facultative anaerobic characteristics. They are a heterogeneous group of bacteria which are naturally present in nutrient rich environments. Their efficient use of nutrients and production of lactic acid during growth are important selective advantages. Many species are used for manufacturing and preservation of fermented feed and food, but they are also common among bacteria populating gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. The genus Lactobacillus is the largest among lactic acid bacteria and consists of over 190 species, though its number is still increasing. They occur as rods or cocco-bacilli, with guanine and cytosine composition of the genome usually below 50%. Generally, they are the most acid tolerant microorganisms among lactic acid bacteria, so they are terminators of spontaneous lactic fermentations such as silage or vegetable fermentations. According to metabolism, they can be divided into three groups. A first group is obligately homofermentative lactobacilli which produce lactic acid as a primary by-product from carbohydrate fermentation. They cannot ferment pentoses and gluconate and do not produce CO2. A second group is facultatively heterofermentative lactobacilli which cannot produce CO2 from glucose, because they use the same pathway as homofermentative lactobacilli but they can produce CO2 from gluconate. They are the only group which can ferment pentoses into lactic and acetic acid. A third group is obligately heterofermentative lactobacilli which produce CO2 when fermenting glucose and gluconate and cannot ferment pentoses. They also produce lactic acid when fermenting glucose but also other products such as acetic acid, ethanol and carbon dioxide. Lactobacillus plantarum was one of the first taxa described in the genus and belong to a group of facultatively heterofermentative Lactobacillus. Species is commonly found in plant material, but also in dairy products, human colon, sewage and many other environments. This flexibility also indicates that the species is genetically and phenotypically heterogenous with one of the largest genomes in the group of lactic acid bacteria. A wide variety of Lactobacillus strains have a long history of apparent safe use. Therefore the whole taxonomical unit of Lactobacillus has GRAS (generally recognised as safe) or QPS (qualified presumption of safety) status, thus Lactobacillus strains can be used in industrial food and feed fermentation and due to positive effects on digestive system also as probiotics. Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a beneficial impact on the host. Some of those beneficial effects are regulation of gut microbiota, stimulation of immune system, reducing risks of certain diseases and reducing symptoms of lactose intolerance and other malabsorptions. It is desired that probiotic is capable of adhesion to intestinal epithelium, and can thus be present in the gut for a longer period of time.
Many dietary sugars are not efficiently absorbed from the human intestine into the blood stream. Unabsorbed sugars are then digested in the large intestine leading to production of large amounts of gas which may cause symptoms of pain, abdominal bloating, flatulence, and diarrhea. In case of many plant oligosaccharides (e.g. raffinose) this is caused by natural inability of the human digestive system to digest these sugars. Oligosaccharides consist of three to ten monosaccharides connected with an alpha-galactoside bond, often attached to proteins or lipids. Bacteria can digest those oligosaccharides, because they possess the enzyme alpha-galactosidase which cleaves polysaccharides into monosaccharides. Smaller units can be absorbed by the human digestive tract. On the other hand, malabsorption is defined as defective or inadequate absorption of nutrients from the intestinal tract. Malabsorption of fructose has 30 to 40% incidence in Europe and is gut mucosal abnormality when small intestine's enterocytes have impaired fructose carriers. The result is increased fructose concentration in the entire intestine which leads to increased osmotic pressure and reduced water absorption. Fructose is digested by colonic bacteria into hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. An abnormal increase in hydrogen is detectable with a hydrogen breath test. Symptoms for fructose malabsorption include bloating, stomach pain, spasms, flatulence and diarrhea. The symptoms of lactose intolerance (lactose malabsorption) are the same as in fructose malabsorption and detection of both is the same. Lactose intolerance is inability to digest lactose due to insufficient levels of intestinal lactase in adult age. It is rarely absolute and can vary between individuals. Undigested lactose travels into the large intestine, where it is digested by colon bacteria which produce gas—the main reason for bloating and stomach pain.
EP0554418 discloses the strain of Lactobacillus plantarum 299v which has the ability to colonize and become established on intestinal mucosa thereby demonstrating the usefulness of L. plantarum as components of probiotic preparations.
WO2011/092261 discloses several Lactobacillus strains including Lactobacillus plantarum CECT 7485 and CECT7484, which are effective in the treatment of bowel inflammation, e.g. for the treatment of symptoms commonly denoted as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). These strains also possess all other beneficial properties which make them suitable for use in probiotic preparations, such as absence of antibiotic resistance, resistance to conditions in gastrointestinal environment and adhesion to intestinal epithelium.
EP1268808 discloses Lactobacillus casei strain defective in carbon catabolism regulation for use in fermentation of food and feed products. This strain is resistant to 2-deoxyglucose which allows it to consume different carbon sources simultaneously.
EP1374878 discloses a method of preventing or alleviating symptoms of malabsorption by administering a dietary supplement containing bacterial cells. Dietary supplement comprises at least 106 metabolically active cells of the genus Propionibacterium, at least 0.5 g of a prebiotic and/or at least 106 metabolically active homofermentative cells of the genus Lactobacillus and/or at least 106 metabolically active cells of the genus Bifidobacterium. 
A study by Rampengan et al (2010) (Southeast Asian J Trop Med Pub Health, 2010, 41: 474-481) observed similar efficiency of live or killed probiotics in children with lactose intolerance. When probiotics were consumed for two weeks, the hydrogen in their breath was reduced.
Another study performed by Di Stefano et al (2004) (J Clin Gastroenterol., 2004, 38 Suppl: S102-103) studied the effect of probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG on functional abdominal bloating. LGG proved to be more effective than placebo in reducing the severity of symptoms.
A study by Nobaek et al (2000) (Am J Gastroenterol. 2000, 95: 1231-1238) compared patients with irritable bowel syndrome receiving Lactobacillus plantarum 299v DSM 9843 for four weeks and a placebo group. Flatulence was rapidly and significantly reduced in the test group receiving the probiotic strain. At the 12 month follow-up, the test group maintained a better overall gastrointestinal function than control patients.
Further on, WO2011/095339 discloses a composition comprising a lactase enzyme and lactase containing strains of the genus Lactobacillus for alleviation of the symptoms of lactose intolerance.
In another example, WO2008/001676 discloses a lactic acid bacterium capable of ameliorating lactose intolerance, characterized by selecting a bacterium having an enhanced enteroadherence property and an enhanced lactose-degrading enzyme activity from lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Lactobacillus. 
However, a strain of the genus Lactobacillus able to rapidly consume carbohydrates, most frequently involved in bloating, fructose, lactose and raffinose, without producing gas and suitable for preparation of probiotic compositions has so far not been described. Therefore, the exploitation of such metabolic capabilities (e.g. consumption of selected components of foodstuffs and their conversion to biomass or end products without health-detrimental effects) of Lactobacillus strains for conferring health beneficial effects has so far not been envisioned. Thus the currently used probiotic preparations and strains do not, when they arrive into the intestine, reduce the symptoms of lactose intolerance or fructose malabsorption or bloating by consuming fructose, lactose and raffinose and converting them into non-gaseous metabolites.